Callaghan's Journey to Downing Street (Electronic book text)

Callaghan's Journey to Downing Street is the long overdue account of how James Callaghan, after resigning as Chancellor of the Exchequer when Britain was forced to devalue the pound, rebuilt his political reputation to eventually become Prime Minister. With emphasis on politics rather than policy, the book reveals a pattern of behaviour that Callaghan himself might not have been aware of. Callaghan's skill as a political tactician was in knowing when to take advantage of a developing crisis. Whether as Home Secretary or Foreign Secretary, he had an uncanny ability to see each crisis -- the anti-Vietnam war protests in Grosvenor Square, trade union reform, the Troubles in Northern Ireland, and the debate over Britain remaining in the EEC -- as an opportunity to move up the next rung of the ladder and to use that crisis to further consolidate his power and curb the influence of his rivals.